Vatican unwilling,sin remission eludes Berlo

But,less than three hours before the service was to begin,the Vatican announced that the LAquila archdiocese had canceled the dinner to avoid exploiting the situation. It didnt elaborate,although it said the money for the dinner would instead go to quake victims.

Reports said that relations between the government and the Catholic Church soured after a newspaper owned by Berlusconis family ran a scathing report on a top Catholic.

It began when Il Giornale,a national newspaper owned by Berlusconis brother Paolo,ran a banner front-page headline against Dino Boffo,editor of Avvenire,the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference.

Il Giornale said Boffo,whose paper has been very critical of Berlusconis private life,had accepted a plea bargain in a court in 2002 after he was accused of harassing a woman. The paper said Boffo had a homosexual relationship with her husband.

The cancellation gave Berlusconi a face-saving excuse to cancel his trip and avoid the prickly question of whether the twice-married PM would receive a plenary indulgence,an extra spiritual step many faithful seek for remission of sins already forgiven through confession.

Pope Celestine V issued a papal bull,or edict,in 1294 granting a plenary indulgence to anyone who entered LAquilas basilica between the nights of August 28 and 29 and was truly repentant and had confessed.